WITCH .
H O , stranger! wherefore to my gate
Com'st thou at this hour so late?
Who art thou that watch dost keep
Even when the watchful sleep?
SAUL .
In this dead and midnight hour
We have sought to prove thy power.
Power men say thou dost inherit,
Gift of their familiar Spirit:
We would raise one from the dead. —
WITCH .
Know'st thou not what Saul hath said?
How the wizards he hath sent
Unto death or banishment?
Wherefore dost thou tempt me? why
Lay'st thou snares for me to die?
SAUL .
By the eternal Lord of all!
Nought of ill shall thee befall,
But all good and length of days;
Gold, poured forth at thy own price,
To glut the heart of avarice,
Shall be thine.
WITCH .
Approach me, thou
Of the muffled face and brow!
Enter, whom would ye I raise?
SAUL .
On the mightiest I would gaze.
Call up him, the buried Seer,
Even let Samuel's form appear;
He, the holy one of God,
Who sleepeth beneath Ramah's sod.
WITCH .
Wherefore dost thou tempt me still?
Shall I brave the Almighty will?
God would blast me where I stand,
Dared I with unholy wand
Aught beneath my charm compel,
Save the leagued powers of Hell.
Who art thou, that dost command
With thy kingly voice? and stand
As if thou wert ruler here?
Art thou that thou dost appear?
SAUL .
I command thee, I — Obey!
Did not Saul God's prophets slay
When they dared oppose his path? —
Dost thou, worm-like, cross his wrath,
And chafe the lion in despair? —
Look thou on this brow; I bear
The brand of Cain engraven there;
I stand here by God accursed,
As thou, and I would know the worst.
I will raise him up, though I,
Looking on the vision, die.
WITCH .
Ha! — dost thou thyself avow?
King of men! I know thee now;
Hide no more thy crowned brow:
By that helm that towers o'er all,
I know the warrior crest of Saul!
SAUL .
Raise him! —
WITCH .
Spirits, that had birth
When the giants walk on earth!
Prophets! ye who erewhile trod
In the holy ways of God,
Rise, appear above the flame! —
King, I dare not breathe his name.
O'er the abyss my wand I raise;
Through the ascending clouds I gaze.
SAUL .
What form see'st thou through the haze?
WITCH .
Godlike shapes of old, I see,
Rising in veiled majesty;
Kings encrowned, and patriarchs grey;
Heroes, seers, long passed away,
But he hears not —
SAUL .
Samuel, hear!
Prophet of the One , appear!
By the name of Him who took thee,
By thy chosen who forsook thee;
Whom thou still didst love, lamenting
Him the lost and unrepenting!
Suppliant on my knees I fall;
Hear the contrite voice of Saul!
Burst the cerements of thy grave,
The living and the lost to save.
WITCH .
It is he — he riseth there! —
By the Eternal One I swear
He had been to me denied;
I called him not, he had not heard
Vows by such as me preferred.
The dead hath wakened from his sleep! —
From the realm where worms abide,
Where the dead their vigils keep,
The immortal Spirit riseth here;
Lo! I kneel, and God revere.
SAUL .
I dare not gaze on him; I hide
My brow within my mantle's fold;
Tell me what thou dost behold,
How doth he my summons brook?
Calm or frowning is his look?
WITCH .
'Tis an Old Man in his shroud,
Wrapped as in a wintry cloud;
Solemn and severe is he,
With his dead eyes fixed on thee;
Eyes that shed reflected light,
Such as rests on Pisgah's height,
When the reddened setting sun
Tells the stormy day is done.
Nought of human passion now
Rests upon that livid brow;
But a record on it dwells
That to thee thy fate foretells
There are warnings and despair,
And death's sentence, graven there.
List! — with effort he doth speak,
But his voice is faint and weak,
Like the breeze of night when sighing
O'er the leaves of autumn dying.
SAMUEL .
Why am I disquieted?
Wherefore wakened from the dead?
Wild ambition, man unblest!
Couldst thou not thy moment rest?
But another fleeting day,
And thou too hadst passed away!
Thou, God-chosen, child of sin,
Wayward have thy footsteps been;
Headstrong in thy tyrant will,
Thou dost thine own doom fulfil:
Retribution stern, but just.
S AUL .
I am humbled to the dust!
The Philistine hosts surround me,
Evil with a spell hath bound me;
I have striven but in vain,
Loathing its abhorred chain,
But none aided me; I felt
A mastering fiend within me dwelt,
That still mocked me while it wound
Its clankless links my spirit round.
God forsakes, nor deigns to hear,
Or by vision or by seer:
Therefore dared I call thee; thou
Once didst love me — hear me now!
SAMUEL .
Wherefore hast thou turned to me,
Seeing G OD thine enemy?
He hath done but what He said;
Thou hast heaped upon thy head
Thine own punishment, thou art
The sole hardener of thy heart.
When the tyrant thou didst spare
But his sordid spoil to share,
Daring God to disobey,
He left thee to passion's sway,
Of thy kingdom then bereft.
Then, as I in sorrow left,
Thou didst grasp my mantle's fold,
Rent in thy despairing hold;
Severed then wast thou from me,
As is Israel rent from thee!
Hast thou not God's prophets slain?
Could they, raised from earth again,
Aught on thy unhallowed head
Save denunciation shed?
Hear the Judge's fixed award,
The death-sentence of the Lord
Even now thou art as dead;
Ere to-morrow's sun be sped,
Israel's armies shall be driven
Like chaff before the winds of heaven,
And thy kingdom shall be shaken,
And thy crown from thee be taken.
On the field of battle lying
They shall mock thee, King! while dying,
And thy severed head in scorn
On Philistine spears be borne;
But thyself and sons shall be
In the realm of death with me.
H O , stranger! wherefore to my gate
Com'st thou at this hour so late?
Who art thou that watch dost keep
Even when the watchful sleep?
SAUL .
In this dead and midnight hour
We have sought to prove thy power.
Power men say thou dost inherit,
Gift of their familiar Spirit:
We would raise one from the dead. —
WITCH .
Know'st thou not what Saul hath said?
How the wizards he hath sent
Unto death or banishment?
Wherefore dost thou tempt me? why
Lay'st thou snares for me to die?
SAUL .
By the eternal Lord of all!
Nought of ill shall thee befall,
But all good and length of days;
Gold, poured forth at thy own price,
To glut the heart of avarice,
Shall be thine.
WITCH .
Approach me, thou
Of the muffled face and brow!
Enter, whom would ye I raise?
SAUL .
On the mightiest I would gaze.
Call up him, the buried Seer,
Even let Samuel's form appear;
He, the holy one of God,
Who sleepeth beneath Ramah's sod.
WITCH .
Wherefore dost thou tempt me still?
Shall I brave the Almighty will?
God would blast me where I stand,
Dared I with unholy wand
Aught beneath my charm compel,
Save the leagued powers of Hell.
Who art thou, that dost command
With thy kingly voice? and stand
As if thou wert ruler here?
Art thou that thou dost appear?
SAUL .
I command thee, I — Obey!
Did not Saul God's prophets slay
When they dared oppose his path? —
Dost thou, worm-like, cross his wrath,
And chafe the lion in despair? —
Look thou on this brow; I bear
The brand of Cain engraven there;
I stand here by God accursed,
As thou, and I would know the worst.
I will raise him up, though I,
Looking on the vision, die.
WITCH .
Ha! — dost thou thyself avow?
King of men! I know thee now;
Hide no more thy crowned brow:
By that helm that towers o'er all,
I know the warrior crest of Saul!
SAUL .
Raise him! —
WITCH .
Spirits, that had birth
When the giants walk on earth!
Prophets! ye who erewhile trod
In the holy ways of God,
Rise, appear above the flame! —
King, I dare not breathe his name.
O'er the abyss my wand I raise;
Through the ascending clouds I gaze.
SAUL .
What form see'st thou through the haze?
WITCH .
Godlike shapes of old, I see,
Rising in veiled majesty;
Kings encrowned, and patriarchs grey;
Heroes, seers, long passed away,
But he hears not —
SAUL .
Samuel, hear!
Prophet of the One , appear!
By the name of Him who took thee,
By thy chosen who forsook thee;
Whom thou still didst love, lamenting
Him the lost and unrepenting!
Suppliant on my knees I fall;
Hear the contrite voice of Saul!
Burst the cerements of thy grave,
The living and the lost to save.
WITCH .
It is he — he riseth there! —
By the Eternal One I swear
He had been to me denied;
I called him not, he had not heard
Vows by such as me preferred.
The dead hath wakened from his sleep! —
From the realm where worms abide,
Where the dead their vigils keep,
The immortal Spirit riseth here;
Lo! I kneel, and God revere.
SAUL .
I dare not gaze on him; I hide
My brow within my mantle's fold;
Tell me what thou dost behold,
How doth he my summons brook?
Calm or frowning is his look?
WITCH .
'Tis an Old Man in his shroud,
Wrapped as in a wintry cloud;
Solemn and severe is he,
With his dead eyes fixed on thee;
Eyes that shed reflected light,
Such as rests on Pisgah's height,
When the reddened setting sun
Tells the stormy day is done.
Nought of human passion now
Rests upon that livid brow;
But a record on it dwells
That to thee thy fate foretells
There are warnings and despair,
And death's sentence, graven there.
List! — with effort he doth speak,
But his voice is faint and weak,
Like the breeze of night when sighing
O'er the leaves of autumn dying.
SAMUEL .
Why am I disquieted?
Wherefore wakened from the dead?
Wild ambition, man unblest!
Couldst thou not thy moment rest?
But another fleeting day,
And thou too hadst passed away!
Thou, God-chosen, child of sin,
Wayward have thy footsteps been;
Headstrong in thy tyrant will,
Thou dost thine own doom fulfil:
Retribution stern, but just.
S AUL .
I am humbled to the dust!
The Philistine hosts surround me,
Evil with a spell hath bound me;
I have striven but in vain,
Loathing its abhorred chain,
But none aided me; I felt
A mastering fiend within me dwelt,
That still mocked me while it wound
Its clankless links my spirit round.
God forsakes, nor deigns to hear,
Or by vision or by seer:
Therefore dared I call thee; thou
Once didst love me — hear me now!
SAMUEL .
Wherefore hast thou turned to me,
Seeing G OD thine enemy?
He hath done but what He said;
Thou hast heaped upon thy head
Thine own punishment, thou art
The sole hardener of thy heart.
When the tyrant thou didst spare
But his sordid spoil to share,
Daring God to disobey,
He left thee to passion's sway,
Of thy kingdom then bereft.
Then, as I in sorrow left,
Thou didst grasp my mantle's fold,
Rent in thy despairing hold;
Severed then wast thou from me,
As is Israel rent from thee!
Hast thou not God's prophets slain?
Could they, raised from earth again,
Aught on thy unhallowed head
Save denunciation shed?
Hear the Judge's fixed award,
The death-sentence of the Lord
Even now thou art as dead;
Ere to-morrow's sun be sped,
Israel's armies shall be driven
Like chaff before the winds of heaven,
And thy kingdom shall be shaken,
And thy crown from thee be taken.
On the field of battle lying
They shall mock thee, King! while dying,
And thy severed head in scorn
On Philistine spears be borne;
But thyself and sons shall be
In the realm of death with me.